Richard Ackland; 27/6/08
Five days before the last federal election John Howard dipped with desperation into his grab bag of tricks and came up with $22 million of Commonwealth money for World Youth Day - the Catholic Church’s proselytising and marketing extravaganza to be held in this city next month. Is that expenditure in breach of the constitution? The issue has hurriedly come before the High Court. It has had a couple of rounds already, and is on again this morning. The applicant is Carmelo Vescio, a non-practising Catholic. When he heard about this money being splashed around in an effort to woo the vote of wavering Catholics he immediately contacted the relevant minister in Canberra, Peter McGauran (Xavier College, Melbourne), to ask, “On what basis are you doing this?”
Tags: Australia, Christianity, WYD